Mexico. The Federal Institute of Telecommunications, IFT, delivered the respective concession titles to the 13 winning participants in the Public Tender to concession the use, exploitation and commercial exploitation of 148 transmission channels for the provision of the public service of Digital Broadcast television (Tender No. IFT-6).
This concludes this process that began on November 28, 2016 with the expression of interest of those who decided to participate, who from August 14 of this year submitted their bids electronically to conclude on the 17th of the same month, after 21 rounds of the bidding procedure.
Prior to the delivery of the respective concession titles, the Presiding Commissioner and members of the IFT Plenary recognized the work done by the different areas of the Institute involved in this process and stressed that with these new television channels greater plurality, greater competition and new business models are achieved.
At the end of the process, a total of 32 transmission channels were received for 29 different coverage areas, located in 17 states and covering about 45% of the country's total population. The total amount of the consideration that the winning participants reported to the Treasury of the Federation was $1,614,030,500.00 (one thousand six hundred and fourteen million thirty thousand five hundred pesos 00/100 M.N.).
Of the 13 winning participants, four were considered, in their economic interest group (GIE) dimension, as new participants in the broadcasting sector in Mexico. They were: Compañía Periodística Sudcaliforniana, S.A. de C.V.; José Guadalupe Manuel Trejo García; Quiero Media, S.A. de C.V., and Radio-Televisión de Nayarit, S.A. de C.V.
The radio spectrum concession titles assigned by the Institute are valid for 20 years, counted from the date of their granting, which may be extended in the terms established by law.
As will be recalled, the entire bidding process was carried out electronically through the Electronic System for registration and Presentation of Bids (SERPO) and the information provided by the interested parties in that way was authenticated through the Electronic Signature of the Tax Administration System (FIEL). Likewise, each of the winning participants accredited all the technical, legal and financial requirements established in the bidding rules, and during the submission of bids, the Institute periodically reported on its Internet portal the highest positions at the end of each round, until its conclusion.
These 32 digital television channels are in addition to the 123 that make up the national channel concessioned in 2015 by the IFT. With all of them, the number of commercial television channels in Mexico is increased by 33%, competition in broadcast television is decisively promoted, new programmatic content will be created for the population and new spaces are opened for freedom of expression in our country.
